Multiple blasts hit eastern Afghan city

JALALABAD (Afghanistan) • Security forces battled a group of attackers who stormed a government building in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad yesterday in a coordinated attack that killed at least 15 people, including a child, and wounded 42, local officials said.

At least three explosions were heard at the start of the attack on the building housing the state accounts office. The first came from a car bomb detonated at the entrance.

REUTERS

Diplomats can't call on dissident's widow

BEIJING • The Chinese authorities have barred five Western diplomats from visiting the widow of Nobel laureate dissident Liu Xiaobo, diplomatic sources said yesterday. Ms Liu Xia, 57, has been under de facto house arrest despite facing no charges ever since her late husband was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, a recognition that deeply angered Beijing.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

US diplomat denied exit from Pakistan

ISLAMABAD • The Pakistani authorities have barred a United States diplomat involved in a fatal traffic accident from leaving the country, forcing a US military aircraft flown in for his departure to leave without him, local media reported on Saturday. The move came a day after Pakistan said it would restrict the movements of all US diplomats in the country in response to Washington's similar restrictions.

REUTERS